Worker recruitment has become a challenge for employers in many fields, and the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau is no exception.
The county Salary Board has responded to that challenge by approving signing, recruitment and retention bonuses for union workers at the bureau, including caseworkers.
There are 13 vacant caseworker positions that need to be filled.
Workers hired through June 30, 2023, will be eligible for a signing bonus of $2,200, paid in two equal installments. Any existing employee who refers a candidate who is hired and works for the bureau for at least one year will be able to claim a $500 recruitment bonus.
Union employees who were hired before July 1, 2021, and stay on the job at least through the end of this year can collect a $2,200 retention bonus.
“Like everybody else in the country, we’re having staffing issues,” county Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said. “Those positions are for serving neglected and abused children. It’s very important that we have the staff to be able to protect the children in Westmoreland County.”
“We’ve been trying to actively recruit caseworkers, get them on board and then retain them once we hire them,” said Children’s Bureau Executive Director Shara B. Saveikis. But, she noted, turnover is high in the child welfare field, which must compete against other occupations that offer higher paychecks and less stress.
“We’re unfortunately losing caseworkers as quickly as we hire them,” said bureau Assistant Director Jason Slonceski.
So far this year, he said, the bureau has hired 13 caseworkers but has lost 16.
That’s a turnover increase from 2021, when 30 employees, including 12 caseworkers, left the bureau, which has a staff totaling about 130.
The signing bonus is retroactive to July 1 of last year. That’s the date when the bureau received approval to add 10 caseworkers — among the 13 positions that remain to be filled a year later.
Saveikis confirmed those positions were added to prepare for an expected change in caseload regulations.
One caseworker currently can handle up to 30 cases at once, but the bureau is trying to reduce that workload to 12 cases, according to Saveikis.
“With 1 to 30, you’re not going to have positive outcomes having that high of a caseload,” she said, citing a Penn State study. “To be really successful, you have to have a ratio of 1 to 12, or even 1 to 10.”
In another related change, she said, each bureau supervisor will be permitted to oversee no more than four caseworkers, down from the current limit of five.
During the initial months of the covid-19 pandemic, from March through May 2020, Children’s Bureau case numbers went down, Saveikis said. That’s because schools, a major source of case referrals, were closed.
But the need for the bureau’s services didn’t diminish, and case numbers have since climbed back and exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
“When there’s higher stresses in families, when there’s a lack of employment, when there’s isolation, it increases the risk of abuse and neglect,” Saveikis said.
The bureau conducted 2,891 case investigations in 2019, representing a gradual annual decrease from 3,159 in 2016. There were 3,219 investigations in 2020, 3,610 in 2021 and 2,005 during the first half of this year.
“Prior to August 2020, 300 investigations per month used to be a busy month,” Slonceski said. “Since then, it’s been a typical month.
“The cases we are receiving are more serious. Substance abuse, particularly fentanyl, has been a growing concern.
“At times, with our vacancy rates, we have had caseworkers carrying over 25 cases at a time.”
Work day extended
In a separate agenda item, the Salary Board added one hour to the workday of several nonunion Children’s Bureau employees — extending the work schedule to 7.5 hours with no change to the hourly wages.
That change is retroactive to July 1. In addition to the director and assistant director, it affects 16 casework supervisors, two casework managers, three program specialists, a social work supervisor, a fiscal officer, an administrative officer and an administrative assistant.
County officials noted state funds pay for at least 80% of Children’s Bureau salaries and of the approved bonuses.
